Tuesday the 6th was an interesting day, and my first inklings that graduate school is going to be vastly different from undergrad studies. A welcome reception for all of the Secondary Ed. majors was set up for that afternoon, and as I had made plans to meet with my supervising professor, Dr. N., I got myself all gussied up professional-like, and made my way to campus.
Getting to campus was no longer a problem, but once there, problems began again (good thing I gave myself an extra half hour, eh?). See, I checked the map before heading up, so I knew where the education building was - south of the LRT station. What I failed to realize was that, if I happened to go out the wrong door, instead of facing south (the direction I needed to go) I would end up facing west...see where this is going? So, once again I found myself taking an unplanned and unwelcome "tour" of campus, trying in vain to either raise a map on my phone, or find one of the elusive campus maps posted in those remote regions where only the few, brave (or seriously lost) students enter. It was my bad luck that they re-did the on-line campus maps, making them more interactive and too much for my phone to load quickly.
As I waited in vain for the map on my phone to load, I kept walking, and soon saw a distinctive garish yellow building ahead of me. The sports arena at U of A is painted a distinct, bright yellow that has earned it the nickname "The Butterdome". Thankfully, I had retained a piece of information from my driving tour of the campus that the Butterdome is down the street from the education building, and from there was able to make my way to the room I needed to be in - two minutes before the meeting was supposed to start, hot and sweaty and not looking remotely like I had when I left, but still before the meeting. Of course, I could have been twenty minutes late and still have gotten there in good time, but punctuality is my curse to bear, and I loathe getting anywhere late. Except church functions, where punctuality seems to be frowned upon...
The meeting itself - not much to report for the first half. People whose names I forgot two minutes later getting up and introducing themselves and talking up the university, and secondary education, and why we're all Cooler Than Everyone Else. Then it was time for the table questions, where you could go to different people and ask them questions about, say, Publishing for Journals, or Conference Presentations, or Library Use. I kind of meandered around and listened to the questions other people asked, trying to get an idea of what kinds of questions I needed to ask...because that's another issue I have. I don't ask questions a lot of the time, because I can't think of any I need to ask. Or rather, I make the assumption that I have the information I need, and unless something comes up to dispute that, I don't ask, because I have nothing TO ask...y'know? The thought that I may be required to publish papers to present at a conference had never even crossed my mind until then. I know it's standard for doctoral candidates, and professors, but for lowly Master's students?
Anyways, all this new and mind-bottling (yes, bottling) information made my head spin, and I just wanted to go home (my supervisor hadn't arrived yet), so when they busted out the vegan spring rolls and fair-trade coffee, I bailed. Of course, my supervisor arrived shortly afterwards...oops! (It's all good now, but that's another post.)
On the plus side, I went out the back of the building and discovered a secret path to the LRT station, which I can use for getting home after classes. On the minus side, the education building? In full view across the street from the other LRT station exit. Sometimes, I am an idiot.
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